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Title
WHO - Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: Special Focus on Sanitation
Abstract
2008 is the International Year of Sanitation. Accordingly, this report by the
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP)
has sanitation as its focus.
The importance of sanitation is indisputable. It is a crucial stepping stone to better
health: sanitation offers us the opportunity to save the lives of 1.5 million children
a year who would otherwise succumb to diarrhoeal diseases, and to protect the
health of many more. It is fundamental to gender equity as it protects women’s
dignity. And it is key to economic development: investments in sanitation protect
investments made in other sectors, such as education and health, and bring
measurable economic returns.
However, the data in this report show that the world is not on track to meet the
MDG sanitation target, and 2.5 billion people still lack access to improved sanitation,
including 1.2 billion who have no facilities at all. The message is clear: We need to
greatly accelerate progress in sanitation, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and
Southern Asia. The number of people who still do not have access to improved
sanitation is staggering, and we know that the disease, loss of earnings and
indignity lock huge numbers of people into poverty.
But the news is not all bad. Although greater impetus is needed, the data show
that people are choosing to move up the ‘sanitation ladder’, abandoning open
defecation and revealing a demand for sanitation facilities
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